AstroLegal

I like sci-fi, airplanes, animals, role-playing games, and any combination of the above. My more interesting side blog: https://www.tumblr.com/hardspaceships

[alphamecha-mkii]

The One Year War - RGM-79[G] GM Sniper by icemarv14

[thestonecuttersguild]

Eagle hangar. Oshkosh 2026

[thestonecuttersguild]

Oshkosh 2026

[astrolegal]

[ketherane-molybdate]

y’know if I had a nickel for every hard scifi series that has an event chain involving the sudden disappearance of everyone on a Martian moon turned scientific outpost, culminating in the discovery and reawakening of alien machine-gods who are not necessarily benevolent to humanity but nonetheless extremely conducive to our aims, facilitating the development of FtL travel while also leading to widespread social collapse on the fringes of empire, people affected by these events deciding the best course of action going forward is to do exoplanetary settler-colonialism and genocides via very fast rocks about it, and ultimately the rest of humanity banding together to beat the shit out of them for that (tho they won’t get all of them), well I’d have two nickels

[lesspopped]

as a rule the women on the expanse are these complex, layered characters who make difficult choices and do gray things and have to live with the consequences and the men on the expanse are the most pathetic sopping-wet creatures in the galaxy. and that's why it's a masterpiece

[prokopetz]

I find the "rules are toys" framing of tabletop RPG design useful for several reasons:

The idea that system matters is reducible to recognising that toys have affordances; while there is of course no "wrong" way to play with a toy, no amount of open-mindedness will readily fit a bicycle through a basketball hoop.

It puts a line under one of the main objections to the "why not just freeform it?" thing; if folks are discussing how to make or modify a toy to achieve a particular set of affordances, blundering into the conversation going "why bother with toys when you can Use Your Imagination?" is unlikely to be well received!

Sometimes it's helpful to take a step back from a critique of a particular system and ask yourself: is this set of game mechanics really broken or incomplete, or have I mistaken a bicycle for a basketball?

[prokopetz]

(I also find that this framing can be a useful way to think about player safety tools. I don't disagree that many games could stand to pay more attention to their players' emotional safety than they do, but I do disagree that the need for external safety tools is a failure mode. Some systems are skateboards; the changes that would be needed to entirely remove the risk of wiping out and cracking your head open on the pavement would also remove the affordances that render them fit for purpose. Sometimes you need to accept the risk and put on the damn helmet!)

[planeposting]

I like John Denver more than the average guy my age but I do have to admit that his song "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" in which he declares that city folk are sad for wanting fancy cars becomes significantly funnier when you know that he died by crashing an experimental aircraft made by Scaled Composites (yes, that Scaled Composites) while he was not legally licensed to fly as a result of multiple DUIs. So like that sucks man maybe you should have stuck with the tractors

[astrolegal]

"Experimental aircraft made by Scaled Composites" might give some folks unfamiliar with aviation the wrong idea, so for clarification:

The Long-EZ is a popular homebuilt aircraft (literally the Wikipedia page image for homebuilt aircraft), where Scaled Composites provides the kit and plans, and the owner builds the aircraft. Homebuilt aircraft are always considered "Experimental," along with all "warbirds" (WWII/early Cold War military planes) and vintage aircraft, among others. (This is why EAA is called what it is)

So, John Denver (an experienced pilot) was grounded due to DUIs, and went flying anyways (sober) in his private plane (which had been built by someone else, who didn't build the plane according to the plans, which caused the crash)

Which is to say, maybe he should have stuck with tractors.

[arcadebroke]

[thestonecuttersguild]

Oshkosh 2025

[importantpics]

[thestonecuttersguild]

Nathan Hammond night show. Wild stuff.

Oshkosh 2025

[usaac-official]

A 373rd Fighter Group P-47 after a landing accident at Woodchurch, 5 May 1944

[planeposting]

Stabilize our trajectory please

Pitch up

Pitch down

Left rudder

Right rudder

Left roll

Right roll

No1 engine thrust

No2 engine thrust

Flap angle

Altitude

Voting ended onMay 10

I just wanna see how we crash this plane

# of likes = # of passengers on board

# of reblogs = # of flight hours the pilots have

Good luck soldiers

[planeposting]

(calling over one of the megaphones they keep at the flight attendants station)

The rudder is fine

Can we please pitch up

[utenavhs]

think about the first movie you remember seeing in a movie theater. not necessarily the first one you saw in a theater, but your oldest memory of seeing one in a theater. what genre of movie was it?

comedy/dark comedy/satire

action

sci-fi

fantasy

horror/thriller

romance/romantasy

historical/period drama/biopic/documentary/historical fiction/political

drama/tragedy

adventure/epic/superhero

mystery/crime

i have a memory of a film but am not sure what film it is (describe?)

i have never seen a film in the theater/cinema in person

Voting ended onApr 28

for the purpose of this poll, things like "animation" and "musical" are not options here because those are mediums and can be any genre! i also sort of felt like inclusion of either of these would result in them dominating this particular poll. so instead, think of which of these selections MOST sums up the movie you're thinking of. it's okay if multiple of these apply, but just pick the one that would sum it up best.

also, you obviously don't have to, but please consider leaving the movie and the year it was released in the tags! i am probably going to make a letterboxd list of everyone's responses, especially if this spreads around enough. check back for the link!

[probablygoodrpgideas]

No Nuance (N)Friday: Best system for a turn order

Each character has a dedicated moment for their turn

Enemies and allies alternate turns

Other

Voting ended onApr 25

[theresattrpgforthat]

Rowan Rook and Decard is making a game where you can explore RPG history via a massive Meta(mega)Dungeon, but where do you belong in it?